Hi! Welcome to “Dusty Phrases.” You will find below an ancient phrase in one language or another, along with its English translation. You may also find the power to inspire your friends or provoke dread among your enemies.
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Latin:
In vino veritas
Greek:
En oinō alētheia
English:
In wine, there is truth
This is a Latin expression that remains somewhat popular. I’m not certain that it’s always true, though. Does intoxication lead to the revelation of hidden truth? Or does it lead to the revelation of base desires now unencumbered by one’s fear and/or reason? How many drunk people have ever said something they don’t really believe or mean? On the other hand, how many romantic relationships have started after one or both people – with the assistance of alcohol – say what they feel without fear?
Information acquired via intoxication can be a difficult thing to sort out and always has been: (via wiki)
In vino veritas is a Latin phrase that means ‘in wine, there is truth’, suggesting a person under the influence of alcohol is more likely to speak their hidden thoughts and desires. The phrase is sometimes continued as, in vīnō vēritās, in aquā sānitās, ‘in wine there is truth, in water there is good sense (or good health)’. Similar phrases exist across cultures and languages.
The expression, together with its counterpart in, Ancient Greek: Ἐν οἴνῳ ἀλήθεια, romanized: En oinō alētheia, is found in Erasmus‘ Adagia, I.vii.17. Pliny the Elder‘s Naturalis historia contains an early allusion to the phrase. The Greek expression is quoted by Athenaeus of Naucratis in his Deipnosophistae; it is now traced back to a poem by Alcaeus.
Herodotus asserts that if the Persians decided something while drunk, they made a rule to reconsider it when sober. Authors after Herodotus have added that if the Persians made a decision while sober, they made a rule to reconsider it when they were drunk (Histories, book 1, section 133). The Roman historian Tacitus described how the Germanic peoples kept counsel at feasts, where they believed that drunkenness prevented the participants from dissembling.
Never get on FB when drunk 😉
Sorry for the slow reply…
That is excellent advice! Lol
This makes me think of the use of ‘Veritaserum’ in the Harry Potter books. A Truth Potion so powerful that three drops would have you spilling your innermost secrets. I have always questioned friends who say ‘I was so drunk I did not know what I was saying. I have been drunk, but never have I been unaware of what I was doing or saying. Indeed, my experience has always been that truths were much more free to infiltrate my words and actions.
Thanks for the reply and sorry that mine in turn is so slow!
I think intoxication and “truth” are kind of weird things to mix. In my experience, drinking tends to remove inhibitions. Sometimes though, the inhibition is the true thing (reason), and not what is said/done when it’s out of the way. Maybe you let yourself say something you don’t really mean when you’re drunk, bc you felt that way in the moment.
Other times the inhibition is just simple fear and getting it out of the way lets the true feeling / thought come forward.
It’s interesting to think through in any case.
My mentor recommends whisky for certain tricky conversations – he said it’d be spirit talking to spirit and the truth will be out 🙂
Sorry for the slow reply! Yeah, I think sometimes certain things are easier to say or do if one medicinally removes some inhibitions.